On a literal level, what area of the city is nick describing in ch. 2

Chapter 2 of the Great Gatsby opens with a literal description of the city dump, referred to as the "Valley of Ashes." The Dump is a symbolic representation of the american dream now left to decay on edge of the city fueled by materialism and greed. This related with the general theme of the story about self-centeredness and greed filling the world with trash.